Graduate Studies

University of California Berkeley
Doctor of Philosophy in Chemistry - 2009

Undergraduate Studies

University of California Riverside
Bachelor of Science in Pure and Applied Chemistry - 2003

Staff Research Associate

University of California Los Angeles
Molecular and Medical Pharmacology - August 2011 - December 2011

Postdoc

University of California Los Angeles
Molecular and Medical Pharmacology - May 2010 to August 2011

University of California Berkeley, Department of Chemistry, Advisor: Heino Nitsche, 2005-2009
Graduate student studying nuclear & radiochemistry, materials chemistry, and electronics & circuit design. The thesis focused on three research topics that were distinctly different but broadly centered around developing new methods to perform transactinide gas-phase chemistry. First, the application of a new materials science methodology, Polymer-Assisted Deposition (PAD), to target manufacturing. Second, the construction of a new experimental apparatus to conduct gas-phase chemistry and the design of circuits and electronics for the measurement of alpha-decay energy. Third, a new nuclear reaction for the production of ²⁶¹Rf, an ideal candidate for gas-phase chemistry due to its relatively-long half life (t_1/2 = 69 s).

University of California Berkeley, Department of Chemistry, Advisor: Joseph Cerny, Summer 2002
Undergraduate student studying nuclear chemistry. The project was to develop software that would model the kinematics of Neon-18 decay through the emission of two protons.

University of California Riverside, Department of Chemistry, Advisor: Michael Marsella, 2000 - 2003
Undergraduate student studying organic synthesis and polymer chemistry. The project involved synthesizing dimethyldihydropyrene analogs for use as molecular switches.

1. UCLA's Scholars in Oncologic Molecular Imaging Postdoctoral Fellow -- (2010-present)
   http://www.crump.ucla.edu/somi/index.html
2. Nature Chemistry -- Smarten up (2010)
   DOI: 10.1038/nchem.601
3. Chemical & Engineering News Blog -- Blogger In The Press Room (2008)
   http://cenblog.org/2008/08/22/blogger-in-the-press-room/
4. Chemical & Engineering News Blog -- Chemistry And The Interweb (2008)
   http://cenblog.org/2008/04/07/chemistry-and-the-interweb/
5. Nature -- The new networking nexus (2008)
   DOI:10.1038/nj7181-1024a
6. Chemical & Engineering News -- Bloggers Anonymous (2007)
   http://pubs.acs.org/cen/science/85/8505sci2.html/
7. Chemistry Blog - Editor in Chief (2005-present)
   http://www.chemistry-blog.com/
   
8. Chemical Forums - Administrator (2003-present)
   http://www.chemicalforums.com/
   
9. UC LEADS Scholar (2001-2003)
   http://www.ucop.edu/ucleads/
   

1. Guest Lecturer for General Chemistry (Nuclear Chemistry Lecture) at Calstate Fullerton (2011)
   
2. Research Mentor for Berkeley Undergraduate Noel N. Chang (2007-2009) (now @ UIUC)
   
3. Research Mentor for Berkeley Undergraduate Mazhar N. Ali (2007-2009) (now @ Princeton)
   
4. Graduate Student Instructor for Nuclear Chemistry (2006)
   
5. Graduate Student Instructor for Organic Chemistry I (2005)
   
6. Graduate Student Instructor for Organic Chemistry I (2003)
   
7. Undergraduate Student Instructor for Advanced Structural and Synthetic Methods (2003)
   
8. Undergraduate Student Instructor for General Chemistry I (2003)
   

1. 

   Kuan-Ju Chen, Stephanie M. Wolahan, Hao Wang, Chao-Hsiung Hsu, Hsing-Wei Chang, Armando Durazo, Lian-Pin Hwang, Mitch A. Garcia, Ziyue K. Jiang, Lily Wu, Yung-Ya Lin, Hsian-Rong Tsenga "A small MRI contrast agent library of gadolinium(III)-encapsulated supramolecular nanoparticles for improved relaxivity and sensitivity" Biomaterials 2010 32(8), 2160-2165.
   DOI:10.1016/j.biomaterials.2010.11.043

2. 

   Hao Wang, Kan Liu, Kuan-Ju Chen, Yujie Lu, Shutao Wang, Wei-Yu Lin, Feng Guo, Ken-ichiro Kamei, Yi-Chun Chen, Minori Ohashi, Mingwei Wang, Mitch André Garcia, Xing-Zhong Zhao, Clifton K.-F. Shen, Hsian-Rong Tseng "A Rapid Pathway Toward a Superb Gene Delivery System: Programming Structural and Functional Diversity into a Supramolecular Nanoparticle Library" ACS Nano 2010 4, 6235-6243. (cover)
   DOI:10.1021/nn101908e

3. 

   Garcia, M.A. "The race for rutherfordium" Nature Chemistry 2010 2, 66.
   DOI:10.1038/nchem.499

4. Düllmann, Ch. E.; Gregorich, K. E.; Pang, G. K.; Dragojevic, I.; Eichler, Robert; Folden III, C.M.; Garcia, M. A.; Gates, J. M.; Hoffman, D.C.; Nelson, S. L.; Sudowe, R; Nitsche, H "Gas chemical investigation of hafnium and zirconium complexes with hexafluoroacetylacetone using preseparated short-lived radioisotopes" Radiochimica Acta 2009 97(8), 403-418.
   DOI:10.1524/ract.2009.1630

5. 

   C. M. Folden III, I. Dragojevic, Ch. E. Düllmann, R. Eichler, M. A. Garcia, J. M. Gates, S. L. Nelson, R. Sudowe, K. E. Gregorich, D. C. Hoffman, H. Nitsche "Measurement of the ²⁰⁸Pb(⁵²Cr,n)²⁵⁹Sg excitation function" Phys. Rev. C 2009 79, 027602.
   DOI:10.1103/PhysRevC.79.027602

6. 

   Garcia, M.A.; Ali, M.N.; Chang, N.N.; Parsons-Moss, T; Ashby, P.D.; Gates, J.M.; Stavsetra, L.; Gregorich, K.E.; Nitsche, H. "Heavy-ion irradiation of thulium(III) oxide targets prepared by polymer-assisted deposition" Nucl. Instrum. Meth. A 2008 592, 483-485.
   DOI:10.1016/j.nima.2008.04.077

7. 
   Garcia, M.A.; Ali, M.N.; Parsons-Moss, T; Ashby, P.D.; Nitsche, H. "Metal oxide films produced by polymer-assisted deposition (PAD) for nuclear science applications" Thin Solid Films 2008 516, 6261-6265.
   DOI:10.1016/j.tsf.2007.11.127
8. 
   Gates, J.M.; Garcia, M.A.; Gregorich, K.E.; Dullmann, Ch.E.; Dragojevic, I.; Dvorak, J.; Eichler, R.; Folden III, C.M.; Loveland, W.; Nelson, S.L.; Pang, G.K.; Stavsetra, L; Sudowe, R.; Turler, A.; Nitsche, H. "Synthesis of rutherfordium isotopes in the ²³⁸U(²⁶Mg, xn)^264-xRf reaction and study of their decay properties" Phys. Rev. C 2008 77, 034603-034609.
   DOI:10.1103/PhysRevC.77.034603
9. 
   Dragojevic, I.; Gregorich, K.E.; Düllmann, Ch. E.; Garcia, M.A.; Gates, J.M.; Nelson, S.L.; Stavsetra, L.; Sudowe, R.; Nitsche, H. "Influence of projectile neutron number in the ²⁰⁸Pb(⁴⁸Ti, n)²⁵⁵Rf and ²⁰⁸Pb(⁵⁰Ti, n)²⁵⁷Rf reactions" Phys. Rev. C 2008 78, 024605.
   DOI:10.1103/PhysRevC.78.024605
10. 
    Nelson, S.L.; Folden III, C.M.; Gregorich, K.E.; Dragojevic, I.; Düllmann, Ch. E.; Eichler, R.; Garcia, M.A.; Gates, J.M.; Sudowe, R.; Nitsche, H. "Comparison of complementary reactions for the production of ^261,262Bh" Phys. Rev. C 2008 78, 024606.
    DOI:10.1103/PhysRevC.78.024606
11. 
    Nelson, S.L.; Gregorich, K.E.; Dragojevic, I; Garcia, M.A.; Sudowe, R.; Nitsche, H. "Lightest Isotope of Bh Produced via the 209Bi(52Cr,n)260Bh Reaction" Phys. Rev. Lett. 2008 100, 022501-4.
    DOI:10.1103/PhysRevLett.100.022501

1. Chen, K.-J.; Garcia, M.A.; Wang, H.; Tseng, H.-R. "Drug(s)-Encapsulate Supramolecular Nanoparticles for Cancer Treatment" 2011 Nanomedicine and Drug Delivery, Los Angeles, USA, March 4-5, 2011. (poster)
2. Garcia, M.A.; Ali, M.N.; Chang, N.N.; Parsons-Moss, T; Ashby, P.D.; Nitsche, H. "Metal Oxide Targets Produced by the Polymer-Assisted Deposition Method" 24th World Conference of the International Nuclear Target Development Society, Caen, France, September 15-19, 2008. (oral)
3. Garcia, M.A.; Ali, M.N.; Chang, N.N.; Parsons-Moss, T; Ashby, P.D.; Nitsche, H. "Using Polymer-Assisted Deposition for Nuclear Science Applications" 236th ACS National Meeting & Exposition, Philadelphia, PA, August 17-21, 2008. (oral)
4. Garcia, M.A.; Ali, M.N.; Chang, N.N.; Nitsche, H. "Development of chemical forums, blogs, wikis, RSS feeds, crowdsourcing, and social bookmarking websites for chemistry" 235th ACS National Meeting & Exposition, New Orleans, LA, April 6-10, 2008. (oral)
5. Garcia, M.A.; Ali, M.N.; Chang, N.N.; Parsons-Moss, T; Ashby, P.D.; Nitsche, H. "Metal Oxide Films Produced by Polymer-Assisted Deposition (PAD) for Nuclear Science Applications " 2007 Molecular Foundry User Meeting, Berkeley, California 2007. (poster)